"To Timothy, My True Child in the Faith"

BORN TO REPRODUCE: 1 Timothy 1:2

Paul now identifies his addressee: Timothy, his protege. Paul refers to him as "my true child". This should raise several ideas in the mind.

Each of us should ask himself / herself: Who are my children in the faith? Who has come to Christ because of my testimony? Hopefully this includes any natural children (if applicable) -- our kids at some point make decisions for themselves; but we, like Augustine's mother Monica, can be fervently praying and using our gentle, loving influence to try to guide them to the Cross and to faith.

But it's not just about our natural children, grandchildren, or others who are part of our socially-recognized nurturing responsibility. The circle extends to friends, coworkers, fellow-students ... in fact, every life we touch. As C.S. Lewis said: You have never met a mere mortal. Each life is move a little closer to Heaven, or to hell, by your influence and mine. Who are our children in the faith, and how are we feeding, tending, encouraging, challenging, and protecting them?

There's no question that John and Nicholas belong to Elizabeth and me: their looks and their personalities, though different, each bear the stamp of their parentage very clearly. They are our "true children". What of our children in the faith? Are they "true children"?

Each of us must first ask: do they bear the stamp of my character, my influence? Have I given myself, poured myself into them, opened my heart and life so that they can see who Christ is in and for me? Most of all, are they themselves reflecting more and more the character and likeness of Jesus Christ? For that is what is most important.

And if they are our "true children", it is for us to ask whether there is some alloy we are risking putting into the pure substance of their faith, character, and life. Is my heart single toward Christ? Or is there something else that I am passing on, some flaw, some admixture, some dross or brokenness? I have asked this question on numerous occasions regarding our missionary work in the world, and what the Western, especially American, church exports in our church planting elsewhere. Are we planting our problems all over again, along with our churches? Congregations of local churches should ask this: what kind of disciples are we making? Are they "true children" of Christ? And I must ask the same question of myself: am I planting my failings and misunderstandings, along with sharing the Master's love and example and the lessons of faith? May it not be so! But it reminds me of my responsibility, and the call to be ever on guard. Satan is subtle. But Christ is both stronger and wiser still.

In 1955, Dawson Trotman gave a 47-minute talk called "Born to Reproduce". (You can read it here: http://www.navigators.org/us/ministries/college/navfusion/assets/BorntoReproduce.pdf)Trotman, founder of the Navigators, understood this to be part of the very core of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Every species must reproduce or die; but while each individual human may not have natural offspring, and extinction of the Church is guaranteed by Christ not to happen, every Christian believer is responsible to use those opportunities that God gives to work at replicating the chromosomes of faith in the life of another ... in the lives of others.

Who are our children "in the faith"? And are they true?


Prince Frederick, Maryland (Providence)